Maybe it comes from reading The Guardian but I am a little shocked at how little Americans are concerned about the proliferation of sports betting. According to this poll...
Maybe it comes from reading The Guardian but I am a little shocked at how little Americans are concerned about the proliferation of sports betting. According to this poll
only 4% of Americans are concerned thing that "the decision to allow sports betting is a main issue" whereas the level of concern is a lot further along in other parts of the anglosphere such as the UK and Australia.
I think some of this comes from the fact that Americans as a group tend to take more risks to get a payout. "You gotta risk it for the biscuit" is a phrase I've heard many times before. I also...
I think some of this comes from the fact that Americans as a group tend to take more risks to get a payout. "You gotta risk it for the biscuit" is a phrase I've heard many times before.
I also think that with sports betting specifically, people feel like they have an edge because they are plugged into the teams and the leagues more. The problem is, I think the edges you can gain take way more time and effort than the casual sports better actually has. It is effectively betting on weighted dice rolls.
I think others have touched upon some important cultural factors, but I would add that sports betting is new in my part of the US (as in a handful of years). I'd imagine that over time attitudes...
I think others have touched upon some important cultural factors, but I would add that sports betting is new in my part of the US (as in a handful of years). I'd imagine that over time attitudes may shift on it somewhat.
Personally, I have no problem with legal sports betting - it's better than having people work with bookies illegally. What I take issue with is the constant bombardment of advertising for sports betting. Not only is it deeply irritating, but I feel the ubiquitous advertising normalizes betting for impressionable people including kids - and I think there will be some level of long term societal harm as a result.
This guy wrote the book(s) on gambling long before it was legal in most of the U.S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scarne and opens a window into that world. There was a time when there were...
This guy wrote the book(s) on gambling long before it was legal in most of the U.S.
and opens a window into that world. There was a time when there were illegal casinos everywhere, illegal lotteries run by the Italian and/or Black mafias, street craps games, illegal OTB betting on horses, see also
J. Edgar Hoover was a big fan and it’s no accident the FBI didn’t repurpose the ideas of COINTELPRO to break the back of the Sicilian Mafia until he was gone.
There was the New Hampshire lottery and the road to Powerball and the growth of Las Vegas and then casinos everywhere and for long sports betting was a bastion of illegal gambling, now it too is being normalized.
There is the fear of corruption, match fixing, etc. and the thing is it is already here, there was the NBA scandal that I think did not get to the bottom of problems in that sport (what I learned from people who almost made it in college ball is that a key skill is managing the ref and fouling people without getting fouls called, with all the grandstanding and “sports entertainment” in pro basketball I just can’t take that sport seriously the way I do others.)
Advertising is the visible problem but underneath that is the invisible problem of the damage done by gambling addiction. Our local bus company lost $700,000 from somebody embezzling to feed a gambling addiction and it is a crime that has 100% recidivism if you let somebody like that anywhere near money again.
Maybe it comes from reading The Guardian but I am a little shocked at how little Americans are concerned about the proliferation of sports betting. According to this poll
https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/sports-gambling-growth-driven-small-group-highly-engaged-sports-fans
only 4% of Americans are concerned thing that "the decision to allow sports betting is a main issue" whereas the level of concern is a lot further along in other parts of the anglosphere such as the UK and Australia.
I think some of this comes from the fact that Americans as a group tend to take more risks to get a payout. "You gotta risk it for the biscuit" is a phrase I've heard many times before.
I also think that with sports betting specifically, people feel like they have an edge because they are plugged into the teams and the leagues more. The problem is, I think the edges you can gain take way more time and effort than the casual sports better actually has. It is effectively betting on weighted dice rolls.
I think others have touched upon some important cultural factors, but I would add that sports betting is new in my part of the US (as in a handful of years). I'd imagine that over time attitudes may shift on it somewhat.
Personally, I have no problem with legal sports betting - it's better than having people work with bookies illegally. What I take issue with is the constant bombardment of advertising for sports betting. Not only is it deeply irritating, but I feel the ubiquitous advertising normalizes betting for impressionable people including kids - and I think there will be some level of long term societal harm as a result.
This guy wrote the book(s) on gambling long before it was legal in most of the U.S.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scarne
and opens a window into that world. There was a time when there were illegal casinos everywhere, illegal lotteries run by the Italian and/or Black mafias, street craps games, illegal OTB betting on horses, see also
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Mafia-Ethnic-Succession-Organized/dp/067121764X/
J. Edgar Hoover was a big fan and it’s no accident the FBI didn’t repurpose the ideas of COINTELPRO to break the back of the Sicilian Mafia until he was gone.
There was the New Hampshire lottery and the road to Powerball and the growth of Las Vegas and then casinos everywhere and for long sports betting was a bastion of illegal gambling, now it too is being normalized.
There is the fear of corruption, match fixing, etc. and the thing is it is already here, there was the NBA scandal that I think did not get to the bottom of problems in that sport (what I learned from people who almost made it in college ball is that a key skill is managing the ref and fouling people without getting fouls called, with all the grandstanding and “sports entertainment” in pro basketball I just can’t take that sport seriously the way I do others.)
Advertising is the visible problem but underneath that is the invisible problem of the damage done by gambling addiction. Our local bus company lost $700,000 from somebody embezzling to feed a gambling addiction and it is a crime that has 100% recidivism if you let somebody like that anywhere near money again.